We can’t and don’t act as a broker and sell numbers.
At first glance we might look like we’re selling or brokering numbers but when you look beneath the surface our business model is more like GoDaddy’s than a domain name broker. We do a better job helping people find good numbers and only charge a flat fee for the searching and activating that number. The fee isn’t based on the value of the number, the amount of advertising the customer does or how badly they need the number. (Those are all things that brokers or any of the toll free number squatters do.)
Over 90% of the numbers we get for customers are just a $49 one time fee. We do have some numbers that take more time and effort to get, such as premium numeric numbers and disconnected 800 numbers. But even those which can be quite valuable at times, are just a slightly higher flat fee based on the area code for disconnected numbers or the star level for premium numbers.
The FCC has regulations against hoarding and brokering numbers so we don’t buy and resell numbers. We do sometimes put the word out either to a couple people that might be interested or to the general public about special numbers that are really news worthy or note worthy. But we do this merely as a service to our visitors. We are a good source of toll free numbers for customers (that’s our job), but we aren’t a central clearing house for people to buy and sell numbers.
It’s also much harder to market phone numbers than the owners of good numbers ever think it is. People who have a good number didn’t have to market it, they only had to get it so they assume that was the hard part. So that makes it hard to do as a business. And the few people that have experience in marketing numbers always have more good toll free numbers than they have time to market them and they get 100% of the return from marketing those, so they don’t market them for other people.
We have some information about approaching numbers and buying them from end users in our consulting section because many visitors come here with a specific number in mind and they want to know how to pursue. But we aren’t bounty hunters and can’t go try to get you that specific number you have your heart set on.
If you want to sell a number you can send us an email or post it in a comment here and if someone inquires directly about it we will try to give out your contact information. But we do NOT proactively market numbers for end users. Also post any question related to this here and we’ll try to clarify this.
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Bill Quimby (291 comments.) says:
September 22, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I forgot to mention that some people like to list numbers on ebay. I don’t think they really sell much there, but it’s one thing that any individual owner can use if you want to.
Also try looking for industry specific journals and do some targeted advertising to get the word out, especially for very specific industry terms.
Bill
Contacting one of our Customers at TollFreeNumbers.com says:
October 28, 2008 at 8:16 am
[…] We can’t act as brokers or middlemen because of regulations by the FCC against brokering toll free numbers. But if the customer does want to change or release the number and asks us to, we can do that. We don’t get numbers for the purpose of reselling them and don’t allow or encourage customers to do that either. We will ban customer’s that we have reason to believe are violating this regulation and getting numbers for the purpose of reselling them. But we do understand that sometimes after you establish a number for your own business use, it may necessary to transfer that number to someone else or into a different name. See also the easy way to put an 800 number into a different name. (No Ratings Yet) Loading … […]
James Weyand says:
October 30, 2008 at 12:42 am
My 2cents on the whole ‘TollFreeNumbers acting as a broker’ debate: If someone buys a number from you and then sells it and you receive money from their sale, you are a broker whether you call it a commission or not.
If you provide a ‘first level’ service to the public (you’re not reselling something) and you have a set pricing structure in place and do not vary your prices ($500 for this number this week, $1000 for that number next week…), then you are not a broker.
Thanks for your help in the past and future,
Jim
5 reasons why it’s Harder to get a good Toll Free Number than a good Domain Name. at TollFreeNumbers.com says:
November 12, 2008 at 8:48 am
[…] of this might be that it’s illegal to sell a toll free number. It’s against the regulations to hoard or broker numbers which isn’t the same thing. Some of the people saying that do it because it’s in their own best […]
Toll free portability at TollFreeNumbers.com says:
November 29, 2008 at 11:12 am
[…] mentioning which numbers are not portable. Some companies, usually vanity number squatters or brokers use “shared use” as an excuse not to allow companies the right to transfer numbers away. […]